MINERALS (Historic Alaska Information)

MINING LAWS AND REGULATIONS

The Federal laws and regulations relative to the location and
patenting of mineral lands in Alaska are embraced in the compiled laws
of the territory of Alaska.

The United States General Land Office, Washington, D. C, issues a
circular entitled "U. S. Mining Laws and Regulations Thereunder," copy
of which can be secured by application from any local U. S. land
office. Those located in Alaska are at Juneau, Fairbanks, and Nome.

The acts of the territorial legislature of Alaska relating to the
location of mining claims are embraced in the session laws of Alaska,
which can be secured from the Secretary of Alaska, Juneau, Alaska.

Pamphlets embracing both the federal and the territorial laws and
regulations pertaining to the location and patenting of mineral lands
are on sale at the leading stationers.

ALASKA MINERAL PRODUCTION

The mining industry of Alaska produced during the year 1920 $22,070,000

With the return of pre-war or more normal conditions, Alaska's great
mining activities will greatly expand both in the variety of minerals
mined and in value of output.

Barytes. This mineral, used in the manufacture of paints,
occurs in two places in Southeastern Alaska in commercial quantities
and of good quality.

Chromite. Deposits have been discovered near Port Chatham and Seldovia, and also in the Tolovana District.

Cinnabar. Ueta-cinnabar has been discovered in the Iditarod-Kuskokwim region.

Coal. Deposits, ranging in grade from lignite to anthracite,
are of greater area than were originally contained in the State of
Pennsylvania; and we know now geologically less than half of Alaska.
The U. S. Geological Survey estimates the coal area at 12,667 miles.
These deposits occur in all parts of the Territory, from Pacific to
Arctic oceans, the least favored section being the islands of the southeastern portion, where the
deposits are of limited extent. The higher grade finds are in the
Bering field near Controller Bay, and those in the Matanuska Valley,
north of Seward. Analyses of the coals in these two fields, ranging
from bituminous to anthracite, show that in quality they are equal to
those of similar fields in the states.

Summer in Skagway, Alaska

Copper. The deposits of Central Alaska are among its most important resources. The only developed copper districts are in the Chitina Valley on Prince of Wales Island and Latouche Island in
Prince William Sound. Considerable development has also been done on
copper deposits which lie in a belt stretching from Nabesna River to
White River. Copper mining began in 1900; the total production is about
613,761,614 pounds, valued at $126,926,096.

Midnight Sun in Summertime Fort Yukon, Alaska

Placer mining is the process of separating particles of gold
from the sand or gravel, with which they are mixed, by washing the
gravel in moving water, the lighter material being carried away, and
the heavy gold remaining, along with any other heavy minerals, such as
platinum and tin, which the gravels may contain.

In its simplest form the outfit of the prospector comprises a pick,
a shovel, a large flat sheet iron pan, known as a gold pan, an iron
constitution and an unfailing fund of hope and patience.

In the second stage he may use a rocker, which is merely a screen on
the top of a box, to separate the coarse gravel, while the finer
material drops on a sloping board or apron, where by rocking the box
sideways, the gravel is cleaned and passes over a lip at the lower end
of the apron, which retains the heavier gold.

In larger surface operations the gravel is shoveled into a long
sluice box, lined on the bottom with riffles, and set on a good grade
with abundance of water, called a sluice-head; but this method requires
plenty of room at the end of the sluices to take care of the.waste or
tailings. Where the body of gravel is not deep it may all be washed
away to reach the richer material in the bottom of the valley trough,
which is called the pay streak. If the ground be too deep, shafts are
sunk to bedrock and the pay dirt excavated as in coal mining, hoisted
to the surface and washed in the usual way. This is called drift
mining. In all these hand operations only the cream of the deposit can
be removed, as the cost is high, so that large bodies of low grade
gravel are left untouched.

When conditions admit the use of water under pressure so that it can
be used to tear down the bank and drive the gravel into the sluice
boxes, this method is called hydraulic mining, and gravel of much lower
value per yard can be handled profitably as the water takes the place
of high-priced human labor. This method requires a sufficient slope to
the ground to provide dump facilities for the waste.

In flat regions and where the pay is too deep for dredges, this difficulty is obviated by the use of hydraulic lifts. This method,
however, requires a greater supply of water with increased pressure as
the material must all be lifted by water into the sluice boxes. At the
plant of the Pioneer Mining Company at Nome, the material is raised to
an elevation of 40 to 50 feet.

In such cases, or where the ground cannot be drained, resort is had
to dredging, which can be carried on either in open water or at any
point where water can be had in sufficient quantities to make a pond in
which the dredge can float;; the dredge being nothing more than a barge
with machinery in front to scoop up the gravel, which, after washing,
is dumped overboard at the stern by an endless belt on an elevator or
stacker, as it is sometimes called.

It is plain that the capacity of the dredge is limited only by the
depth to which it can dig, and the size and number of the boulders in
the gravel on the bedrock where the best pay is found.

For these reasons, on some of the creeks around Fairbanks the depth
of muck and worthless material is too great for dredging operations,
while the Nome region, the Iditarod, Ruby, Circle City, Eagle and
Fortymile regions, as well as the Kenai Peninsula, are well suited to
their use.

Gold. Placers and lodes are to be found in allsections of Alaska where gold is probably more universally distributed than in any other country of the world.

Graphite, or plumbago, frequently called black-lead, and used
for the manufacture of pencils, stove polish, and lubricants, is found
on the Seward Peninsula.

Gypsum. One of the non-metallic mineral resources mined on an
extensive scale at Gypsum, on the east shore of Chichagof Island,
Southeastern Alaska. The crude rock is shipped to Tacoma where it is
worked into various forms for sale.

Iron. Large deposits of good grade have been discovered in
numerous localities. Magnetite deposits occur on Prince' of Wales
Island, in the Illiamna district and near Haines. Hematite occurs in
the Lake Clark district. On Seward Peninsula are bodies of iron ore of
considerable size.

Lead. Has been discovered and is being developed. The lode
mines at Juneau carry considerable galena, and galena-bearing lodes
occur in the Ketchikan and Wrangell districts. Lead ore occurs in Fish
River Basin of Seward Peninsula, Broad Pass region, and the Koyukuk
district. One of the most promising discoveries is in the Kantishna
district.

Marble. Marble of an excellent quality is found in numerous
localities in the Ketchikan and Wrangell districts, Southeastern
Alaska. The most extensive development is in the vicinity of the
northern end of Prince of Wales Island, with the center of activity at
Tokeen, on Marble Island. Other localities include Dolomi and Dickman
Bay at the southeast end of Prince of Wales Island, Revillagigedo
Island, and on Ham Island and vicinity. Alaska marble is being used
extensively throughout the West for interior building decorations.
Cities of the West where Alaska marble can be seen in the larger
recently constructed buildings include Seattle, Tacoma, Bellingham, and
North Yakima, in the State of Washington; Vancouver, B. C; Portland,
Ore.; San Francisco, Oakland, Sacramento, Los Angeles, San Diego, and
Presidio, California; Boise, Moscow, and Lewiston, Idaho, and Salt Lake
City, Utah.

Molybdenum and Bismuth have been discovered.

Nickel and Cobalt. A copper lode carrying nickel and cobalt is under development on Chichagof Island.

Palladium. Has been discovered in connection with mining copper ore of the Saltchuck Mine on Prince of Wales Island.

Petroleum. Oil seepages have been known in Alaska for a
period of fifty years, those first discovered being in the Iliamna
region on Cook Inlet. All the oil lands in Alaska were withdrawn from
entry in 1910; but the Oil Land Leasing Act, passed February 25, 1920,
contains provisions which promise an immediate development. Under it
prospecting and production may be carried on by the payment of certain
rental and royalties as follows:

"The Secretary of the Interior may grant a permit for the exclusive
right for not to exceed four years, to prospect for oil or gas on not
to exceed 2,560 acres of land, provided the permittee shall within two
years begin drilling and drill one or more wells not less than 500 feet
deep within three years, and shall within four years drill to an
aggregate depth of not less than 2,000 feet, unless valuable deposits
be sooner discovered."

The secretary may, if necessary, extend this permit for two years.

The discoverers of deposits of oil or gas under the permit shall be
entitled to a lease of one-fourth of the land embraced in the
permit—such lease to be for twenty years upon a royalty of 5 per
cent of the amount or value of the production and an annual rental of
$1.00 per acre. The permittee also to have the preference to lease the
remainder of the land under his permit at royalty of not less than 12
per cent and other conditions provided.

Alaska petroleum compares favorably with the best Pennsylvania product, having a paraffin base with high gasoline content.

The Katalla field is a producing field with ten wells being
operated. The product is refined and sold around Prince William Sound.

Deserted Indian Village, Cape Fox, Alaska

To encourage production of petroleum in Alaska the secretary may
waive rental or royalty for not to exceed five years and not more than
five permits may be granted to any applicant.

Since the oil leasing regulations became effective, there have been
filed at the United States Land Office in Juneau applications for
staking oil land in Alaska in eleven different districts as follows:

District / No. Applications / Acres

Cold Bay — 181 / 459,520

Katalla — 65 / 99.973

Yakataga — 36 / 75.520

Illiamna — 30 / 69,400

Kootznahoo — 16 / 35,520

Cape Spencer — 3 / 7,680

Chinitna — 3 / 7,680

Seward — 2 / 3,520

Wasilla — 2 / 5,120

Anchorage — 10 / 19,840

Aniakshak — 6 / 15,360

Total — 354 / 799,133

Platinum has been discovered in placer operations in the Dime
Creek region, Seward Peninsula, and from the Copper River region, and
was reported as being extensively distributed in Sustina Basin. It is
also carried in the copper ores at the Shaltchuck Mine near Ketchikan.

Silver. There are no mines worked especially for silver. This
metal is obtained solely in the refining of gold and copper. The yield,
1867-1919, was valued at $6,248,314.

Sulphur. A deposit of sulphur is being developed on Akun Island on the Alaska Peninsula.

Tin. Tin occurs in Alaska and Seward peninsulas and the Hot
Springs region of the Tanana Valley, both as placer tin and in lode
veins; also in Cleary Creek, near Fairbanks, near Circle City on
Deadwood Creek, and on the Notak. Tin mining has taken its place as a
regular industry on Buck Creek near Cape Teller in the region north of
Nome.

Tungsten. In 1915 a vein was discovered in Fairbanks district, and recently near Sitka, and also in gold placers.

LOCATION OF PRINCIPAL MINING CENTERS

Aniak—Gold placer. Lower Kuskokwim, east of river. Bering
River—Coal and oil. South coast, east of mouth of Copper River.